South Bend police investigate 'oldest profession' with new online twist

Prostitution makes the leap to Craigslist.

Prostitution makes the leap to Craigslist.

May 13, 2009|By JEFF PARROTT Tribune Staff Writer

"Black Cherry the Diva" asks if you all want to have some fun. "Lilly" says she's a "Sexy Sweetie" who is "all pretty new to this," but since she lost her job, this seems like a pretty good way to make some friends as well as pay the bills. Her rates: $125 for a half hour. $175 for a full hour. Both ads contain photos of the women. Lilly is fully clothed, unlike Black Cherry, who strikes a pose that leaves nothing to the imagination. They're just two of the many women who appear to be advertising sex for money under "erotic services" on the South Bend section of www.craigslist.org, the free classified advertising Web site where you can job search or buy used items. It's a growing trend nationwide, as the world's oldest profession embraces new technology, say police and anti-prostitution advocates. South Bend police are engaged in an "active investigation" of Craigslist prostitution locally but have yet to make any arrests, spokesman Capt. Phil Trent said. "I cannot go into any kind of details as to how we're addressing the issue," Trent said. "We know it exists and there's a fairly robust amount of it in South Bend. It's problematic and we're certainly looking into it." Trent said there is little doubt about the nature of the product being sold. Most posts mention dollar amounts charged per hour. Others use thinly veiled code words for money, such as "roses," "diamonds," "kisses" or "thank yous." "It's so blatant, so over the top," Trent said. "They're not being coy, not being cagey. They're just blatantly offering sex for money." In other cities, police conducting Craigslist stings have posed as johns and arrested female prostitutes and pimps, and johns to a lesser extent. Trent said it is a "little more complicated" for police to pose as prostitutes online, but that doesn't mean johns are off the hook in the South Bend area. Police believe they do not need to catch someone in the act of soliciting prostitution but can make arrests through surveillance and confiscating records from prostitutes and pimps, similar to how arrests are made in some drug cases, Trent said. On the rise? The rapid growth in Craigslist erotic services posts does not necessarily mean more prostitution is occurring in America, but it's possible -- perhaps even probable, said Melissa Farley, executive director of Prostitution Research & Education, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that advocates against prostitution. Farley said too little research has been done to answer that question. But the proliferation of the Internet has made marketing much easier for prostitutes and pimps, and it has attracted men who like the seeming anonymity and discreetness that the Web offers, she said. Many such men, fearful of being seen by someone they know, would never have picked up prostitutes on the street, or in strip clubs, massage parlors and pornographic bookstores, she said. And on the Web, they feel emboldened by a new culture that has developed, one in which johns are called "hobbyists" and prostitutes "providers." On sites such as www.theeroticreview.com, johns can post reviews of prostitutes they have been with, and a section for "newbies" gives tips to the less experienced john. "It appears a large group of johns are encouraged by the seeming mainstreaming of prostitution online," Farley said. "They're teaching johns how to find whatever body parts they are seeking, a certain color, age, whatever ... there's a sort of online support group for these johns." Farley is most concerned about the illegal human trafficking and exploitation of minors that she says Craigslist prostitution facilitates. And she believes many of the ads that appear to be written by women acting as independent contractors are actually written by pimps. "The majority of them are pimped, no doubt about that," she said. To believe otherwise is "extremely naive." In South Bend, Trent agreed a different type of john is using the Web. "I think that there's a psychological or a sociological difference," he said. "One is more public and more spontaneous, and one is more planned and covert. There are people who are willing to pay a lot of money and keep it real quiet, and there are people who go for the more prurient appeal of picking them up on the street or in an alley." Victimless crime? Not everyone thinks all prostitutes who advertise on Web sites such as Craigslist are being exploited by pimps, or are necessarily even victims of crimes. Although she realizes human trafficking and exploitation of minors is happening on the Web, Jenifer Lee-Gonyea, assistant professor of criminology at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., thinks Web-based prostitutes are less likely to be controlled by pimps than other prostitutes. "There are people who have decided that this is what they want to do to make money," said Lee-Gonyea, who has studied online prostitution. "They don't really need a pimp anymore. All you need is software and Internet service, and it's as simple as that. You're out on the World Wide Web." Lee-Gonyea added that some women who would never turn tricks on the street are willing to arrange appointments via the Web. "For one or two days a week, they can be whoever they want to be, charge whatever they want to charge, and never see these people again." The Tribune tried to call several women who advertise on the South Bend Craigslist site's erotic services section, but none would agree to be interviewed. Most of them quickly hung up the phone after learning they were talking with a reporter who was writing a story about Craigslist erotic services. "Erotica Monica" was more polite than most but still declined. "Unless you're paying me my hourly rate ($250), I'm not doing a story," she said. "Why in the (expletive) would I want to talk to a reporter?" "So you can tell people what your life is like?" the reporter replied. "Honey, if I want to tell people what my life's like, I'll write a book," she said. A woman who called herself "D" also declined an interview. "We get so much bad press," she said, but "we're not streetwalkers ... we're just serving a lot of men who are married and aren't happy with what they have." 'No less harmful' Farley said research shows only 60 percent of johns wear condoms. It's one reason Citizens for Community Values in South Bend is so troubled by the rise in Craigslist prostitution, even if it is less visible than streetwalking prostitutes on South Michigan Street, or fights and shootings that erupt outside that area's strip bars, said executive director Patrick Mangan. "This is no less illegal and no less harmful," Mangan said. "Individuals who participate in prostitution, whether they are consenting or not, subject themselves and the broader community to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, which are an epidemic right now. Families are broken up. The porn and sex business plays a role in 50 percent of divorces today, according to the trial lawyers association." Most ads on Craigslist are free, but erotic services and job ads are not. The site's traffic drives the ad rates Craigslist can charge. So Mangan called on the public to boycott Craigslist until it stops allowing the erotic ads. "People should complain, No. 1, and should look away from Craigslist," he said. Staff writer Jeff Parrott: jparrott@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6320